June 2009 Update

june 09

GNTOWER UPDATE

This update has been produced by a group of leaseholders and residents who have a positive commitment to the Great Northern Tower

making Great Northern Tower safer for all We all depend on our home being a secure and safe environment for us, our family and friends. The boundaries of that environment - our homes - don’t stop at the front door s of our apartments. We are a large community, with over 250 apartments, and that offers some challenges in managing the building and its spaces. A fundamental principle must be that we accept that we have a duty to each other as fellow residents to demand and implement the highest possible standards of security. This duty of care also extends to the concierge, care-taking and maintenance personnel working in the building. Security is a major topic of discussion at every resident meeting. Effective access control is a key element in maintaining the safe and secure environment we all expect. We want the standard of security at GNT to be unparalleled when comparing the development with other city centre residential buildings. We all know that the reality has been somewhat different, with the building being

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subjected to numerous and consistent breaches of security. These have included the extremes of violent attacks on both concierge personnel and fellow residents alike, and the persistent tailgating of legitimate key-holders through the main entrance.

efforts to improve the block and its security. Indeed, with the political conference season starting again in the autumn, the police will be taking a very active interest in the GNT, and will require to know exactly who is entitled to enter. We will be working closely with them over coming months.

The view from the top of the building has proved attractive - people with no connection with GNT have been “popping up” for a look - and leaving cans, bottles and fag ends, which leaseholders have to pay to clean up. And that’s apart from the noise, nuisance and fire risk, and the damage we seem to be getting to the lifts.

We are looking at security on a broad front. First, we will be reprogramming fobs for both the front and parking entrances in July. In parallel, we are reviewing the possibility and costs of building an extra security “layer” to the main entrance area and/or the lifts, using electronic fob access.

We’ve also, like other city centre blocks, got a few anti-social owners making a quick buck through apart-hotel style “bythe-night” lets. These have been a major source of noise, damage and security worries - and are entirely in breach of the terms of every single GNT lease.

We’re also assessing ways to strengthen the ability of the concierge team to deal with unauthorised access, through making physical changes to the ground floor layout. If you have any ideas, please do let us know - as usual, though Alex at Stevens Scanlan, please.

We have discussed the matter with the police, who agree that action should be taken and have pledged to support our

SEE OVER: security and parking: timetable for all fobs to be withdrawn and reprogrammed what to do and when...

GN TOWER JUNE 09 update

GNT Head Concierge Mark will be working closely with Ivan Hewitt from Greater Manchester Police. On 14 July Mark will reprogramme fobs ONLY with the go-ahead from Stevens Scanlan, confirming that they’ve seen the required documents and stating the name of the person to whom a reprogrammed fob can be issued.

security improvements update: all fobs to be withdrawn and reprogrammed As a direct result of the ongoing security concerns, all entrance and parking fobs will be withdrawn and reprogrammed in the coming weeks. This is what to do to make sure you don’t have any access problems once this takes place: 1. Post or email a copy of your apartment lease or tenancy agreement to Stevens Scanlan by July 1st. 2. For those with a parking space, be sure to post or email a copy of your

showing “one night lets” the red card! An issue receiving increased media attention over recent months has been the hotel style “by-the-night” lets of city centre apartments - usually accompanied by headlines about wild partying wrecking the lives of city centre residents. As well as being a breach of the terms and conditions within the lease agreement, the associated anti-social behaviour is, in fact, the direct responsibility of the absentee owner. This practice has been an

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Mark Scholes with Ivan Hewitt deed/lease agreement together with the plan that shows the location of your car parking space by July 1st. 3. Hand in ALL entrance and parking fobs on 14th July for reprogramming. 4. N o t e t h a t a n y f o b N O T reprog rammed won’t work from that date, whether it has been handed it in or not. If you have any enquiries or comments

regarding the security improvements please contact Alex Normand at Stevens Scanlan in the first instance: 0161 236 3066 or [email protected]

resident and leaseholder meetings

unpleasant recurring feature in GN Tower, with blocks A and B being particularly badly affected. If you have any problems whatsoever, or suspect that an adjacent apartment is being let on a short term/ nightly basis it is imperative that you report this to Alex Normand at Stevens Scanlan: 0161 236 3066 or [email protected]

We also talked a little about how best to communicate within the building we have the notice board, and this newsletter - but wondered whether a web forum would be useful. If there are any views we’d be keen to hear them - and if there are any webmasters out there who could offer to contribute their expertise - that would be brilliant! The next meeting date hasn’t been fixed yet, but contact Alex for details if you’d like to come along. The venue will be arranged when we have an idea of numbers.

Once an initial warning has been issued, any repeat infringement can then be pursued with legal proceedings by Stevens Scanlan on residents’ behalf.

At the last meeting we discussed maintenance, water metering and charging, electricity costs, and the constant topic of concern - security. It was good to hear that United Utilities had acknowledged our requests, and visited the building to look at the current installations with a view to advising how and when individual metering might be achieved. We’ve also had some common-sense communication from Scottish Power - thanks for all the help on both of these.